Budget Pc Gaming Machine Under $500Au – Australian Version
Originally published: September 20, 2018
So I have a few friends who are wanting to dip their toe into the PC gaming scene, however when they hear the prices some of my peers have quoted for a “gaming pc” most start the make a step back and rethink the notion of getting a PlayStation or other console. Sure, we can spend a few thousand bucks on a decent gaming setup but unless your a season gamer spending a lot of money for a new gaming solution, only to find it’s not your thing is not really appealing..
So the idea came up recently about weather you could still build a decent gaming pc for under $500, to be on par with the high end console costs. Now we have all seen these on youtube but the issue is not only are they out of date but it seems MOST of them are in US Dollars. Which we all know in Australia is a big difference.
But Alas, I thought I would ask my mates to see if it can be done and just for shits and gigs to see if it can be done or how close we can go…
The rules were simple, a close to $500, like a console there is no monitor. Keyboard and Mouse are needed but we would let it slide. It’s all about the pc….Being upgrade-able would be a plus so that you could be the computer up as you go…
Things to consider. We didn’t include Windows 10, Because we can always download the free Full version from Microsoft that is not activated but still works without out and can be activated later..
The Ryzen 3 2200G comes with its own intergrated graphics card. This helps with the cost as well as allows for us to upgrade later on to a more power cpu and graphics card.
From the reviews online, the Pc can play most AAA type games at 60fps perfectly on low to medium settings, with the exception of PUBG. However spending the money on the faster ram has been suggested to increase fps performance which may mean you can get the 30fps + in PUBG and play comfortably.
The Most definitely PRO to this build is that you aren’t wasting money by way of compromising on any particular part only to upgrade it later on. This build is a perfect first layer to your gaming build that you can build and expand upon over time.
This includes adding a SSD for under $100 as your main boot drive and re-using the 1TB hard drive as dump storage. Increasing RAM and then eventually upgrading the video card to a dedicated one.
It seems that the ryzen will benefit greatly from faster ram. So getting 3000+ speed ram is a major benefit.
The AMD Build
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G APU with Vega 8 Graphics
$139.00
ASRock A320M-HDV Motherboard
$69.00
$149.00
Western Digital WD Blue 1TB WD10EZEX
$59.00
Cougar MX330 Mid Tower case with 500W Power Supply
$75.00
Grand Total For build
$491 Au
The Intel Build
Intel Pentium G4560
$75.00
Gigabyte H110M-H Motherboard
$572.00
$169.00
G.Skill Value F4-2400C15S-8GNT 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4
$115.00
Western Digital WD Blue 1TB WD10EZEX
$59.00
Cougar MX330 Mid Tower case with 500W Power Supply
$75.00
Grand Total For build